The BIOPLAT-EU project  –  opportunities to capitalise on  marginal,  underutilized  and  contaminated  lands  using non-food  biomass  production

The European Directive on the Promotion of the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources (REDII) identifies six main areas for action. One of them concerns the promotion of the sustainability of bioenergy production and its use in the EU. Marginal, underused and contaminated lands (MUC) cannot be used to produce food (for people or livestock) nor for recreational and conservation purposes, but in some cases they still retain the quality of producing non-food biomass for bioenergy. The results of previous EU-funded projects have demonstrated the viability of using these lands for sustainable biomass production.

Currently, within the European Horizon 2020 research program, the project “Promoting the sustainable use of unused land for bioenergy production, through a web platform for Europe” – BIOPLAT-EU has been initiated,  coordinated by WIP Renewable Energies in Munich, Germany and having as a Romanian partner The Center for the Promotion of Clean and Efficient Energy in Romania ENERO, a project that aims to promote the use of marginal, underused and contaminated land for the cultivation of biomass for energy (www.bioplat.eu)

BIOPLAT-UE produces a computer tool and a database with GIS maps of the lands that are available for biomass projects for energy. The land is found by satellite remote sensing.

The IT tool evaluates the sustainability of the project for different value chains for bioenergy production on MSC land, using 8 environmental indicators, 4 social indicators and 5 technical-economic indicators.

Both a pan-European map of MSC lands and more detailed maps are elaborated, at the level of some counties-case studies (for Romania: Oltenia mining area, where available lands appear due to the reduction of the mining activities, and in the Bacău county)

By accessing GIS maps, IT tools will allow anyone interested to search for MSC land in Europe at the level of a selected region. It will provide the user with data on these lands, such as agronomic and climatic specifications and, consequently, what type of biomass can be planted on these lands. The instrument will then allow the assessment of the environmental, social and technical-economic sustainability aspects of a certain value chain.

Finally, the BIOPLAT-EU project will provide technical support to stakeholders on issues related to biomass production and processing, market access, access to finance, etc., through two pilot feasibility analyzes.

For more information about the project visit https://bioplat.eu and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGNxq7Zs0BE&feature=youtu.be